Rabbi: Hareidi Enlistment Won’t Stop Hate

Hareidi enlistment in the IDF would not stop anti-hareidi incitement, says Rabbi Yitzchak Brand of the Hareidim for Judea and Samaria organization (Halamish).

“They don’t really want ‘equal sharing of the burden,’” Rabbi Brand told Arutz Sheva. “They just want to make trouble for hareidim, like they do to the settlers in outposts and towns [in Judea and Samaria].”

“Does anyone really think that if hareidim enlist the incitement against them will stop?” he asked. “Of course not.”

“The religious Zionists are proof. They go to the army, and they still make trouble for them, they accuse them of taking over the country and destroy their outposts,” he continued. “If hareidim went to the army they’d attack them even more than they do now.”

There are two major reasons why hareidi men should not enlist in the army, Rabbi Brand declared.

The first, he said, is that Israel needs men who are learning Torah full-time. “Even in the time of King David, when there was an army, there were also those who learned Torah,” he said.

The second, he continued, is related to the state of the IDF. “The military as it is now is very messed up,” he charged. “There are girls, the kashrut is problematic, there are all kinds of problems.” IDF officials have proved that they are not willing to meet hareidi religious standards, he argued.

“We saw how Rabbi Ravad quit the air force,” he recalled. Rabbi Ravad stepped down over what he termed a failure to respect hareidi views on gender segregation.

“The burden of proof is on them,” he said of the army. “They should take out [female soldiers], stop destroying settlements, have excellent kashrut, and allow time for prayer and Torah study – and then we’ll talk.”